


From The Beginning— Nico

by i_am_triple_a



Series: From The Beginning [2]
Category: Heroes of Olympus - Fandom, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Riordanverse, percy jackson - Fandom
Genre: Canon Divergence, Companion of From the Beginning— Will, Fluff in the Later Chapters, M/M, Trans Male Character, Trans! Will Solace, Trans!Nico di Angelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:00:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_triple_a/pseuds/i_am_triple_a
Summary: The son of Hermes turned towards the boys behind the front desk. Nico decided to get a good look at them, as Connor explained why they were there.One of the boys had dark brown hair and pale skin. He had thin eyes that crinkled in the corners when he smiled, and he looked to be about fourteen or fifteen. Nico liked his Black Parade hoodie, but he didn’t like the fact that he was grinning between Nico and the other boy (his little brother, maybe?).The other boy looked to be about Nico’s age, and had curly blond hair, a deep tan and a face full of freckles. His cargo shorts and bright orange t-shirt seemed a little out of place for winter, even if the camp had a magic weather system to keep the strawberries growing. He looked nervous, but was staring at Nico, who was a bit uncomfortable with the attention from both the blond and the brunet. Did he have something on his face?
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: From The Beginning [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849675
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. Mythomagic Come to Life

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter one of Nico’s PoV! Hope you like this!  
> There is a TW for part way through this chapter, with a homophobic slur and homophobic behaviour, and a brief mention of child molestation. It will be marked where it starts and ends (It goes for about two paragraphs), just so you know where it is  
> There is a brief summary of what you may miss in the TW paragraphs, in case you get curious  
> That’s all from me for now, then

Nico couldn’t believe it. He was actually a demigod— all of the Greek myths were real. That’s how he got into Mythomagic, contrary to the beliefs of everyone at Westover Hall. He got into mythology in the Lotus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. One of the workers there had given him a book filled with the Greek myths, and Nico immediately loved it. Then he’d found out there was a card game based off of the gods and monsters, and he’d become more than a little obsessed.  
  
He was terrified on that hilltop— his principal turned into a manticore. But there was Percy Jackson, ready to defend Nico and Bianca, even though he’d never met either of them before. He had fought like the heroes that Nico had read about in his books— like Jason, Perseus, Odysseus, Heracles, and Achilles. Then he, a daughter of Zeus, Grover, Apollo, and the Hunters of Artemis took Nico to a camp run by his favourite god.  
  
When he’d read about Dionysus, Nico was thrilled. An immortal trans guy who was treated like a normal guy. It made Nico grin. And he had a card in Mythomagic, and was portrayed as trans, too! Sure, his card wasn’t that useful for the most part, but he was still someone like Nico. And then Nico met the actual Dionysus— the guy that had made Nico feel like he wasn’t alone. He was so excited to find out that Mr. D ran Camp Half-Blood. Mr. D seemed like a bit of an ass, and was obviously a severe alcoholic, but Nico was still excited to meet him. Besides, as the god of wine, Nico figures Dionysus had a pass for being an alcoholic.  
  
Part of Nico still thought that this was all fake, and that he was actually in a coma or something, but he decided if it were a creation of his subconscious, he was alright with that. His subconscious would have been doing him a favour for the first time in his entire life.  
  
He was currently walking across camp with a son of Hermes towards an infirmary run my children of Apollo, as ordered by an immortal centaur named Chiron.  
  
“I seriously can’t believe that this is all real,” Nico ranted. He was fully aware that his ranting was annoying to most people, but Connor didn’t seem to mind. He added his own thoughts in as well, which made Nico feel like he was actually wanted somewhere. It was a nice feeling. “I mean, I’ve read about mythology and all that, but it’s crazy to think it’s actually real. Are other pantheons real too?”  
  
Connor thought for a minute. That was another thing Nico appreciated— Connor and Travis always thought about his questions before answering, instead of just rolling their eyes or scoffing. Nico really liked them for that reason. “I’m not sure, actually. I don’t think so, but I could be wrong with that. You should ask Mr. D or Chiron.”  
  
“Ok,” Nico said happily.  
  
“So, did you ever get into trouble at the military school?”  
  
“Well, I accidentally threw a Mythomagic figurine at my English teacher,” Nico said as they reached the infirmary.  
  
Really and truly, Nico hadn’t meant to hit his teacher. It had been in the middle of a presentation Nico was doing for their mythology unit. The project was to explain a Greek myth and then explain how it affected the way the Greeks thought.  
  
Nico had brought in Mythomagic figurines to help explain how the rivalry between Athena and Poseidon had started from the argument for becoming patron of Athens. Needless to say, he had gotten carried away, and the statue of Athena he had been using to demonstrate her gift to the Athenians (olives) slipped out of his hand and hit his teacher in the back of her head.  
  
Nico tried to explain he didn’t mean to hit her, but she didn’t listen, and he got detention after school everyday for the rest of the semester. It made it easier for when he got into trouble for not paying attention in class or missing classes later on— he had to go to detention anyways.  
  
“You hit your teacher with a Mythomagic figure?” Connor laughed as they stepped inside.  
  
“I didn’t mean to!” Nico defended, laughing a bit. He noticed the two guys at the front desk watching their conversation. He thought they were Apollo campers, but he wasn’t sure, and he decided to ignore them for now. “I was talking, and it kinda slipped out of my hand!”  
  
“Well, whatever happened, you are officially an honorary Hermes kid,” Connor laughed, and Nico felt his heart swell with pride. Bianca had told him that no one else would ever want to be around either of them because they were just orphan immigrants and Nico got into trouble all the time, but here, Nico had someone telling him he was welcome with them for getting into trouble.  
  
The son of Hermes turned towards the boys behind the front desk. Nico decided to get a good look at them, as Connor explained why they were there.  
  
One of the boys had dark brown hair and pale skin. He had thin eyes that crinkled in the corners when he smiled, and he looked to be about fourteen or fifteen. Nico liked his Black Parade hoodie, but he didn’t like the fact that he was grinning between Nico and the other boy (his little brother, maybe?).  
  
The other boy looked to be about Nico’s age, and had curly blond hair, a deep tan and a face full of freckles. His cargo shorts and bright orange t-shirt seemed a little out of place for winter, even if the camp had a magic weather system to keep the strawberries growing. He looked nervous, but was staring at Nico, who was a bit uncomfortable with the attention from both the blond and the brunet. Did he have something on his face?  
  
Nico gave an awkward wave to the boys, still having no idea who they were. He thought he might have seen them on the archery range on his first day at camp, but he wasn’t sure about that.  
  
“Great!” the brunet said happily. “Will, why don’t you take Nico into Exam Room B and give him a check-up and record his medical history and information?”  
  
Nico saw the blond —Will— look horrified, and Nico tried not to feel offended. Nico knew that he was loud and brash, that he said things that made other people confused or annoyed, that he waved his arms around so wide as he spoke that he hit people on a daily basis, and he was well aware that he couldn’t find ways to connect to the world around him well. That’s why he turned to books, games, and music— they made sense. He could clearly see the rules for what to do, and he could connect to other people through characters, lyrics, and ways of games.  
  
However, he’d never spoken to this guy before. What did he have against Nico already? The young Italian had decided then that he would get to know this Will guy to prove to him that he was wrong to be upset to be stuck with Nico.  
  
“Cool,” Connor said, clapping Nico’s shoulder. “I’ll see you at lunch, I guess. If you finish early, come find me and Travis.”  
  
Nico didn’t really want to know what Connor and Travis had planned, cause he thought it would get them both in tons of trouble. And probably involved arson or explosions. “See ya, Connor.”  
  
“So, Will, take your patient to the exam room,” the brunet said, pushing Will (who still looked scared and reluctant) towards Nico. “Have fun!”  
  
Will sighed (which Nico thought was a little dramatic, but he didn’t say anything), and led him further into the infirmary. They passed a few cots covered in crisp linens, and entered a room blocked off by a curtain made of wooden beads. In the room, there was another cot, a cupboard (presumably filled with medical supplies), and an office desk and chair covered in papers, pens and pencils. Nico was nervous and confused, so he started fidgeting with a deck of Mythomagic cards.  
  
“Um, I’m gonna go grab some paperwork and stuff to fill out. You can sit down on the cot, if you want,” Will mumbled. Nico shot him a small smile (the innocent one that got him out of trouble with the police and teachers at his old foster home) as he moved to sit on the cot. Nico noticed Will’s bright green flip-flops as he walked out of the room. ‘In the middle of winter? Really?’ Nico wondered to himself.  
  
He really couldn’t put his finger on why he was so concerned on whether or not Will liked him. Maybe he was just sick of people judging him before they knew him, or maybe it was because Will looked a little like Alan Fitz, the boy from the school he went to before Westover Hall. The two of them both had curly blond hair, and seemed to share an affinity for flip-flops and cargo shorts.  
  
Nico thought that was the most likely— Alan was the first person outside of Bianca who was actually nice to him, and who didn’t have ulterior motives, like Mrs. Forsyth did (she was his foster-mother at the time). Alan was super sweet, and helped Nico to learn to speak proper English.  
  
TW!! Homophobia, mentions of pedophilia and rape!!  
  
  
And Nico had thought things were going well, being friends with Alan. He had even told Alan about being trans, and Alan was super supportive, which was shocking. Things were great in Tennessee. Until Alan’s father walked in on them laughing one day. That’s all they had been doing— laughing at something stupid Nico had said while they were studying. But Mr. Fitz flipped out when he saw them. He called Nico a ‘dirty immigrant fag’ and said that Nico needed to ‘stay the fuck away from his son and stop corrupting him’. Nico still had the scar on his side from where the fence dug into him when Mr. Fitz physically threw him out of the house.  
  
Later that day, Nico was kicked out of his foster home with Mrs. Forsyth (apparently she and her husband were fine with molesting children, but she drew the line at two friends laughing together).  
  
  
TW Over   
  
  
That’s when Nico and Bianca were moved to Bar Harbour, and Bianca started to resent Nico.  
  
She had really liked their life in Tennessee, and she hated that Nico was the reason they had to leave. Westover Hall wasn’t as good as Tennessee for her. The kids were all rich, all-American brats, and hated immigrants, orphans, and people with learning disabilities. As two Italian orphans with ADHD and dyslexia, their lives were made into living hells by the majority of the school populous. That left Bianca and Nico to talk pretty much only to each other, which just made her resent him more (of course, their relationship was never perfect. Like the time he had overheard her talking to her friends in Tennessee about her ‘little sister, who thinks she’s a boy’. Nico freaked out and didn’t speak to her for a few days. He didn’t ‘think’ he was a boy. He knew he was a boy). But Bianca stopped playing Mythomagic with him and started snapping at him about how it was ‘stupid’ and ‘childish’, and how that was why no one liked him. Nico still loved her, though. And he knew that she loved him. After all, they were family, and they only had each other. He didn’t remember much from before going into the Lotus Hotel, but he did remember a woman telling him ‘famiglia è eterna’, or ‘family is eternal’ in English. He held onto that with every fibre of his being. ‘Family is eternal.’  
  
Then came along Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, and the Hunters of Artemis. Bianca was offered huntership, and immediately took it, as she so kindly put, ‘so she could finally be free of responsibility and free of Nico’.  
  
So Nico figured that was why he wanted Will to like him. To have another shot at the past six months. The last time he saw Alan was the last time his life was semi-normal. If he had another shot with Alan, he could fix it all. Obviously, he understood that Will was a completely different person than Alan was, but at least for now, Nico wanted to keep up the idea of fixing his life.  
  
‘Treat life like a crashing computer,’ Nico thought, remembering something his math teacher told him. ‘When it starts falling to shit, reset it to the last working standpoint.’ Nico figured the last working standpoint was with Alan, when they were studying that day. Before Mr. Fitz walked into the room.  
  
“Hey, sorry about that,” Will said, dragging Nico out of his semi-depressing thoughts. Will tripped over the office chair that was in the middle of the room, and Nico fought of a laugh as Will set some papers down on the desk. “I’m gonna check your pulse, if that’s okay.”  
  
Nico didn’t know why Will added the ‘if that’s okay’ since he didn’t bother to give Nico time to answer before grabbing his wrist.  
  
“Your hands are kinda sweaty,” Nico blurted, and then mentally slapped himself for saying that. He was trying to make this guy like him and not be super annoyed at his general existence, and he pointed out sweaty hands? Who did that?  
  
“Sorry,” Will said, ducking his head. Nico noticed that the tips of his ears were bright red, and he figured his face would be too.  
  
“Don’t be,” Nico said. ‘Finally, you say something good,’ he told himself. “I was just pointing it out.”  
  
“Oh, okay,” Will said, scribbling something down on one of the papers and grabbing a weird stethoscope-looking thing. “I have to look in your ears, so could you turn slightly?”  
  
Nico turned his head to the left, and Will put the stethoscope-thing in his ear, and it flashed a light, his ear growing warm because of it. The brunet decided to try to strike up a conversation with the medic. “Where are you from?”  
  
“Grew up on a farm.”  
  
“Cool. I’m from Italy. I don’t really remember what it was like there, but I don’t think it really matters too much. If it was ever really my home, I think I would remember it, you know?”  
  
Will nodded. “I get that.”  
  
For the next two hours, Will poked and prodded Nico with metal tools, and Nico tried to get Will involved in the conversation. Honestly, the Italian boy thought that his job was much harder than the son of Apollo’s. He seemed very intent on not adding to the conversation.  
  
When Will started asking him questions about his past, Nico tried his best to answer, but was worried at the fact that he couldn’t come up with even the simplest of answers without thinking on it. Why couldn’t he remember anything? Bianca didn’t either. What happened to their memories? The nurse at Westover Hall said it had something to do with traumatic experiences or some bullshit, but Nico had looked into it while he was skipping his Phys. Ed classes. Amnesia triggered by traumatic experiences didn’t erase every memory you had, and it wasn’t likely that Bianca couldn’t remember anything either. Also, he should have been able to remember the simple stuff (like his name, birthday, birth year, home, and at least some of the first ten years of his life).  
  
“Alright, that was the last question. You’re free to go,” Will said with a smile.  
  
“Awesome,” Nico said, hopping off the cot and glancing at the cot. He whistled lowly. “Wow, we went right through lunch and I’m starving. D’you think there’ll still be food in the dining pavilion?”  
  
“Probably, Chiron usually keeps food out all day during the year,” Will told Nico as he filed the paperwork.  
  
“Great! D’you wanna come?”  
  
Will froze. Did Nico just ruin the already extremely fragile and thin relationship, if you could even call it that?  
  
“I’d really love to, but we’re not supposed to eat meals away from our tables.”  
  
“Well, technically it’s not a meal since lunch ended about ten minutes ago. It’s just two people grabbing some food together.” Why did Nico care? It wasn’t like he was close with Will, or like they were friends. But he didn’t really want to be alone. He didn’t want to start thinking about Percy. He couldn’t think about him. He couldn’t think about Bianca and the Hunters. For some reason, Nico had the strangest feeling that something was going to happen to his big sister. It wasn’t like she could even die— unless it was in battle. But he still had that weird feeling in his gut, that he wouldn’t see her again.  
  
“Fair point. Let’s do that, then.” Will said, and Nico resisted the urge to sigh in relief. It wasn’t like he knew Will well, and Will clearly didn’t particularly care for Nico (if the horrified look at his brother and unwillingness to participate in their conversation for the past two hours were anything to go off of). But it meant that Nico wouldn’t have to be alone. He could talk about random bullshit that didn’t matter, and avoid thinking about the deep shit he didn’t want to think about.  
  
As they walked out of the infirmary, Nico noticed Michael shoot Will a thumbs up. What was that about? Nico decided to ignore it and talk about his ideas of who his parents might be. It was so easy to speak about this stuff since Nico thought about who his parents were all the time. He didn’t know which of his parents was a god, and which was mortal, but he’d spent a lot of time over the last year speculating who his parents might be.  
  
“So what does your mom do?” Nico asked, trying to get Will to join in his conversation a little.  
  
“She‘s a high school English teacher,” Will told him. “But I haven’t seen her since June.”  
  
Nico knew a lot of people who were year-rounders were orphans too, and he figured that Will’s mom had died years before (he seemed to know his way around camp really well). But the wound must’ve still been really fresh, if it had only been June. “Oh. I’m sorry about that. But it gets easier.”  
  
“No! No, it’s nothing like that. I just used some magic and got accused of being a demon or the new Jesus or something.”  
  
Nico nodded with understanding. He laughed slightly, realizing that Will’s mom wasn’t dead. He was rather intrigued by the whole demon Jesus thing. Maybe he could get Will to tell him more about that. “Oh, okay. That makes sense. You’re from the Bible Belt?”  
  
“Rural Texas.”  
  
“Makes sense,” Nico laughed, and Will grinned as they arrived at the dining pavilion. Will had a nice smile. It lit up his face. Not that it was a nice face. Well it was, but it wasn’t like Nico had noticed. And if he did, it was in a purely observational way. “I mean, if I heard a kid used healing magic on someone, I’d think they were a demon too.”  
  
Nico and Will continued to talk through the meal, and Nico had a lot of fun talking to him. For a guy who had avoided talking for the first few hours of them hanging out, Will could apparently be pretty talkative. Sure he wasn’t as hero-ish as Percy Jackson, but Will was pretty funny and sweet. He figured they could make pretty good friends, as long as they didn’t get too close. After all, people who got to know Nico for who he really was ended up hating him. Alan hated him now. Bianca hated him. His mortal parent must’ve hated him, and that’s why they left. He didn’t want to ruin another relationship, so he figured he should keep Will at arms length. Just to be on the safe side. After all, the less people knew Nico, the easier his life was. Right?


	2. Goodbyes and Greetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bianca leaves camp, Nico meets Hestia

Nico knew his sister had to leave suddenly, which was the only reason he wasn’t concerned about where she was. He’d eavesdropped on her conversation with Zoë Nightshade the night before. Not that he had meant to spy on his sister.  
  
He’d just had a hard time falling asleep, so he decided to go for a walk to clear his head. When he’d left the Hermes Cabin, Bianca and Zoë were rushing past, whispering. He wasn’t proud of it, but he decided to follow them, knowing it had something to do with the quest.  
  
A quest she was going on, even though Bianca hadn’t even known she was a demigod until a few days before, and the hunters had twenty other girls who had been fighting for centuries. No matter how pissed he was at her, she was his sister, and he was scared for her. He was fully planning on following them to try to watch out for Bianca, but Percy was right. He would end up slowing them down or getting them all killed.  
  
Regardless, he was sure Bianca would be safe. After all, he had Percy Jackson promise to keep her safe. Well, Percy promised he would try, but Nico kept telling himself that there wasn’t much of a difference in the slight distinction. No matter how angry he was with his sister, he was happy to know that she would be safe. Even with that small voice in the back of his head telling him that this was the last time he’d see his sister.  
  
He hadn’t gotten to say goodbye. The last time he had spoken to his sister was the day they’d left Westover Hall, when she’d told him about joining the Hunt. She’d told him that she had found a ‘new family’, and Nico had told her to go have fun with them, in a much less kind way. She called him an asshole, and asked why he couldn’t be happy for her. Nico called her a selfish prick. They hadn’t spoken since then. She was with the Hunters of Artemis, and Nico had the Stoll’s and Will. Percy had been nice, too.  
  
Nico figured it would be fine, and he’d be able to talk to Bianca when she got back to Camp Half-Blood. They would apologize to each other, like they always did when they fought, and then they would get coffee before she left, and then the Hunters would move on, and they’d be on good terms. ‘Of course that will happen,’ Nico thought as he wandered around camp in the early hours of the day. ‘How else could it happen?’  
  
As he walked past the hearth, Nico noticed a red-headed girl tending to the flames. Her hair looked like it was part of the fire, but Nico knew that was ridiculous. He had seen her when he had arrived at camp, and in passing a few times, but she was always alone. Nico decided to change that.  
  
“The fire looks great,” he told her. “You’re really dedicated to be up here this early.”  
  
“Thank you,” the girl said, looking shocked that Nico had come over. How long had it been since someone had spoken to her? Her voice was a little hoarse. “But it is my job.”  
  
“Oh, okay,” Nico said. “I’m Nico, by the way.”  
  
He held out his hand, and the girl took it. “It is nice to meet you. I am Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and Home.”  
  
Nico grinned. Now he could hold a conversation with this girl easily. “That’s really awesome! You’re one of the twelve Olympians, right? How come sometimes it’s you and sometimes it’s Mr. D.?”  
  
“There were a lot of Greek countries and citizens, which led to a lot of different stories being shared. Some people refused to believe I gave up my seat on Olympus for my nephew, while others believed it,” Hestia explained. Nico nodded. That made sense to him. He decided to ask Hestia about something that had been on his mind for a long time.  
  
“If you’re the goddess of the home, would you be able to tell me where my home was? Like, where I’m from?”  
  
“Yes, Niccolò di Angelo. You are from the island of Torcello in Venice, Italy. You lived there with your mother, sister, grandfather, and grandmother when you were little.” Nico thought about that, and a memory of an old-looking house along a canal popped up in his mind.  
  
“Thank you,” Nico said, a grateful smile on his face. Hestia had told him more about his family than anyone else in that one sentence. “Do you know why I can’t remember anything?”  
  
‘I am afraid I do not. I do not even know how you are here, child. It should not be possible.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“Mr. di Angelo,” a voice said from behind them. Nico turned and nodded at Dionysus, who was glaring at him. Nico turned back to Hestia, with all intents of finding out what she meant by ‘it should not be possible for you to be here’. Nico knew that something was off about the Lotus Hotel, and how much the world had changed in the few weeks he was in there. There was something off about the fact that neither Nico or Bianca could remember anything. Whenever he brought it up with Bianca, she told him that he was paranoid and looking for things that weren’t there. He thought that speaking to Hestia would be how he managed to get some answers. “I see you have met Lady Hestia.”  
  
“Yes, Dionysus,” Hestia said smoothly. “He is a good child. But do you know how he’s here?”  
  
“No, but I doubt it’s a good idea to go poking around and looking for answers where they don’t want to be found.”  
  
“Can someone explain to me what–”  
  
“No,” the god of wine said, cutting Nico off. “Now head to the dining pavilion for breakfast. I need to speak with Auntie Hestia, and Chiron is in a tizzy about where Perry Johnson is. He’s asking everyone questions about it.”  
  
Nico sighed, but walked off. He would come back to speak to Hestia again, though. She was nice, and she knew something about Nico that he didn’t know. Of course, that wasn’t saying much. Nico really couldn’t remember anything, and a lot of people knew more about his past than he did. Plus, he’d promised Percy to come up with a lie about where he went. He was going to make good on his part of the promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I know that a lot of people don’t live on Torcello (I looked it up, and only 30 people live there) but it’s older than the city of Venice and I really wanted to say Nico grew up there  
> Secondly, this is very much a filler chapter, but I still think it’s pretty good. Things actually start to happen next chapter, so stay tuned!  
> Also, this has nothing to do with this fic, but it was a thing. When I was rereading the chapter where Percy promises to take care of Bianca, it said that Nico was planning on following everyone on that quest, and he would’ve if Percy hadn’t stopped him. Would anyone be interested in a canon divergence fic where he actually followed them? Cause I’ve got some great ideas for that, trust me  
> And as always, comments and kudos are appreciated and cherished! See you in the next chapter


	3. Nothing Good Ever Happens On A Monday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a longer chapter, but I liked writing it  
> I don’t think there is anything I should warn you guys for in this chapter?? I mean, Nico finds out his sister is dead in this chapter, so it’s sad and be prepared for that? Also he gets turned into a plant, so if that’s a trauma of yours, be prepared? I really don’t know what to put here, guys, I’m very tired

Nico was enjoying a nice breakfast with Will at the Hermes table. The two of them had taken to eating meals a little while after everyone else so they didn’t get in trouble for eating together. Nico decided to ask a question that had been burning in him for the past two weeks. “I’ve been meaning to ask Chiron if there are different pantheons. Do you want to come ask him about it with me later?”  
  
“Yeah, that sounds cool,” Will said with a grin. His smiles always seemed to brighten up the surrounding area, making Nico feel like he had to squint to look at him. It made sense, what with Will’s father being the god of the sun. “Are you excited to see your sister again?”  
  
“Yeah,” Nico said. He wanted to see his sister again, to apologize for being a brat, to apologize for saying bad things about her, and to prove to himself that his sister was still alive. “It’ll be nice to see her again.”  
  
“Hey, Nico?” Michael said as he walked up the stairs and towards the Hermes table. “The people from that quest with your sister are back. They’re in the Big House, if you want to go see them?”  
  
Nico grinned. He was going to see his sister again. He pushed away the bad feeling he had, the little voice telling him that he wasn’t going to see her, that she wouldn’t be there. “Cool! See you later, Michael. I’ll meet up with you in a little while, Will!”  
  
Nico ran up to the Big House, and poked his head inside. Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover were all sitting inside. When they saw him, they all looked extremely uncomfortable. Nico smiled at them all, but looked around nervously, somewhat hoping that Bianca would have been hiding behind a chair or in another room or something. “Hey! Where’s— where’s my sister?”  
  
The room somehow became more uncomfortable and suffocating. The three other kids and satyr looked at Chiron in shock. Nico felt his heart start to pound harder. If she wasn’t here, and they were all shocked that he was asking about her… no. Bianca was alive. She had to be.  
  
Percy turned back to Nico with a clearly forced smile. “Hey, Nico. Why don’t we go for a walk?”  
  
‘That can’t be good,’ Nico thought, but he went along with Percy.  
  
“What’s going on, Percy?” Nico asked as they stepped back outside. “Where’s Bianca?”  
  
Percy didn’t answer Nico’s question. “Let’s just go over to the dining pavilion, okay? Then I’ll explain everything.”  
  
The older boy stayed silent until they reached the dining pavilion. When they got there, everyone else was gone. Nico had tried to get Percy to explain, but he remained silent as they walked. When they got to the pavilion, Percy brought them to the pillar they had been at when Nico got Percy to promise to keep his sister safe.  
  
“Wh-what’s going on?”  
  
Percy sighed. “About three days into the quest, we had to cross through one of Hephaestus’ junk yards. Now, there’s only one rule with them, and that is not to steal anything. Leave everything in the junkyard. Bianca… She tried to take a Mythomagic figure. When we got to the exit, it awoke a prototype of Talos, which is this huge automaton that Hephaestus made to protect the gods.  
  
“We were fighting to get rid of it, so that we could escape and survive, but it was too powerful. The only way we could defeat it was for one of us to climb inside and destroy it from the inside out. Your sister… since it was her fault Talos woke up, she decided it would be her who destroyed him. I tried to stop her, and so did Thalia. She refused to listen to us. She managed to destroy it, but… she most likely didn’t survive. None of us know what happened to her after that.  
  
“Bianca— she wanted you to have this. And for me to tell you she was sorry.”  
  
Nico was in shock. He numbly took the little statue of Hades from Percy. His dreams were right. That voice was right. Connor and Travis told him that Bianca was probably fine, and that it was just a bad dream and anxiety.  
  
Percy kept talking. He shouldn’t have, but he did. He was making things worse. It didn’t matter why Bianca was dead, or why she sacrificed herself. All that mattered was that she was gone. He was never going to see his big sister again, and the last thing he’d said to her was ‘go have fun with your new family, since I’m clearly not that important to you’. He didn’t say ‘bye Bia, I love you, be safe’. He’d made her feel bad for a choice she’d made, and then told her to leave him alone. He vaguely registered the son of Poseidon staring at him expectantly, wanting him to say something. What was Nico supposed to say here? Was Percy expecting Nico to say ‘thank you for letting me know’? Did he want Nico to make him feel better about Bianca, and make him feel good about letting Nico know?  
  
After Percy’s rambling, and a few moments of staring at the statue of Hades, the last figurine Nico needed to collect, the only one he didn’t have, the thing Bianca had died for, Nico managed to speak. “You promised you would protect her.”  
  
When Percy left, Nico knew it was unlikely that he could keep Bianca completely safe, but he was a hero. He could fight, and he could help his sister. His older sister, who had no idea about anything to do with mythology and fighting. His annoying, bossy, selfish, amazing older sister. His only family, the only one who had always been there for Nico, even when she resented him, even when they were fighting.  
  
“Nico,” Percy said. “I tried. But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. I told her not to. But she—”  
  
“You promised!” Nico yelled.  
  
Nico hated the pity in Percy’s voice, the tone that was careful, as if Nico would break in two with the slightest push. It was the tone the nurse had when Nico was pushed down the stairs; the tone the teachers at his school used when he first arrived because they thought that he was weak since he had no parents; the tone people used when they found out Nico was autistic; the voice the school counsellor used because she thought she was speaking to someone of a lower standard than her own, someone to take pity on, someone to look down at. He hated that tone. That condescending, ‘poor child’, treading-on-broken-glass voice. It made his ears bleed out, and it started filling him with anger.  
  
“I shouldn’t have trusted you,” Nico said, closing his fist around the Hades figurine. He knew his voice was breaking, he knew his voice was wavering. He hated how weak he sounded. “You lied to me. My nightmares were right!”  
  
“Wait.” Did the son of Poseidon have the audacity to tell him to wait? His sister was dead, and he wanted Nico to stop being upset, to do something for him? “What nightmares?”  
  
Nico flung the statue to the ground. She had died for it. He didn’t want it anywhere near him. Hades clattered across the icy marble. “I hate you!”  
  
He wasn’t talking to Percy. It was his fault, Nico’s fault. If he had been a better brother, gotten over the whole Hunter thing sooner, she wouldn’t have tried to grab the figurine. If he hadn’t been such a bratty, nerdy, geeky, freak, she wouldn’t have joined the Hunters of Artemis. She wouldn’t have gone on the quest.  
  
“She might be alive,” Percy said, his voice desperate, pleading with Nico. He just wanted to be forgiven for breaking his promise, but Nico couldn’t forgive him. He broke a promise, and for that, Nico had lost his only family. He knew it wasn’t Percy’s fault. He’s not the one who pushed Bianca away, who caused Bianca to jump in that automaton. When Bianca got an idea in her head, it was going to happen, and there was nothing you could do to stop it. But it was easier to be mad at Percy, with his nice face, and pretty eyes, and caring personality. “I don’t know for sure--”   
  
“She’s dead.” Nico closed his eyes. He could feel his entire body was shaking with rage and grief and confusion and effort. He was certain of it now. He could feel Bianca’s presence, standing before the judges in Asphodel, her life passing before her. He could feel the green of her aura or soul or whatever you wanted to call it. “I should’ve known it earlier. She’s in the Fields of Asphodel, standing before the judges right now, being evaluated. I can feel it.”  
  
“What do you mean you can feel it?”  
  
Nico heard a clattering sound, so he opened his eyes, losing his focus on Bianca’s soul. His eyes widened, and a gasp came out involuntarily. A group of— something were there, swords drawn, grinning wickedly.  
  
Nico thought they were skeletons, but he’d looked into anatomy when he was supposed to be running drills a few months before. These skeletons were not like human skulls. At least, none that Nico had seen. They looked straight out of a cartoon. Their skulls looked like if Pac-Man had a skull— spherical with no eye sockets, no space for the cartilage of a nose, and a set of pointed teeth. Their bodies were contorted, as though they had a dog's legs, but a bird's arms—er, wings. They should have looked ridiculous, but they were terrifying. With swords and guns strapped to their chests, and metal spikes popping out of their skulls, Nico was sure they were going to kill him.  
  
Percy had just turned and drew his sword. Monsters couldn’t enter Camp Half-Blood without someone within the border’s permission, according to the orientation video. How did they get in there?  
  
A horrible thought came to Nico’s head. Did Percy want to kill Nico? Was that why those… things were there? Is that why he broke his promise? Was he trying to kill him? Is that why Nico had been thinking things of liking Percy? Had he used some magic to get his guard down around Percy, so he’d be easier to kill?  
  
“You’re trying to kill me!” Nico yelled. That’s what was happening, right? How else would the monsters have been able to get into the borders, and know where Nico was? “You brought these… these things?”  
  
“No! I mean, yes, they followed me, but no! Nico, run. They can’t be destroyed.”  
  
“I don’t trust you!” Why should he? Percy broke his promise. It was his fault Bianca was dead. It was his fault that Nico had no family. It was his fault that Nico had romantic feelings for a boy. He had bewitched Nico. Yes. That was the only logical explanation as to why he, a boy, had a crush on another boy.  
  
Percy fought the skeletons. He chopped them in half, but they kept fighting. They knit themselves back together. “Run, Nico! Get help!”  
  
Voices filled into Nico’s ears, telling him he was worthless, to join them in the afterlife, that he should go ahead and die. Visions of people he recognized, that he knew, swam through his head. Faces he’d long forgotten, faces he’d forgotten he’d missed. It started with his sister. His mother. His grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbours, cousins. Everyone he’d ever known when he was little. When he still lived in Italy. But why were they all wearing clothing from the thirties?  
  
Then more people came. People Nico had never seen before. That he didn’t recognize from deep in his archive of memories. Faces swam in his vision, echoey voices chanted to join them, to see them, to follow them, to remember them. It was too loud, too overwhelming. Everything was happening too fast, he couldn’t deal with it.  
  
There were skeleton monsters, and his family was dead, and they were telling him to join them, and there was Percy, and he couldn’t deal with all of the noise, with everything, with anything. He pressed his hands to his ears, attempting to block out the voices and faces, telling him to remember, join, see them again. He was being overloaded, he couldn’t deal with it.  
  
“No!” he yelled. “No! Go away!”  
  
He felt all his anger pulse out of him, shooting down out of his feet and into the ground. All his emotions erupted out of him at once. The ground rumbled. The skeletons froze. The marble of the dining pavilion split apart, Percy diving out of the way just in time for him not to fall into it. Fire erupted out of the fissure, the earth swallowing the skeletons with one loud CRUNCH.  
  
In place of the skeletons was a twenty-foot-long scar, weaving its way across across the floor of the pavilion. That was the only sign the skeletons were ever there.  
  
‘What did I just do? Was that me? How did I do that?’ Nico wondered in his panic.  
  
“How did you—”  
  
“Go away!” Nico yelled, cutting the older boy off. He was still overwhelmed. Whatever had just happened wasn’t helping Nico with anything. Although, the voices and faces disappeared from his head, vanishing from his view, from his hearing. “I hate you! I wish you were dead!”   
  
Nico ran back down the stairs, and into the forest. Did he really hate Percy? What was he going to do? Where was he going to go?  
  
Nico reached Zeus’s Fist, and jumped into the entrance to the tunnel that he’d found a few days before. He raced down the hall, hoping that he’d be able to find his way out again later on. But for now, he needed to breathe.  
  
When he felt like he couldn’t move anymore, he slumped on the ground, leaning against the side of the tunnel. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”  
  
Nico knew that he was weird. He knew that he was too nerdy, he wasn’t a real boy, and he studied too much on things he wasn’t supposed to study, and he knew that he was too loud. He wasn’t good at reading the room, and he had a hard time conveying his feelings, and he wasn’t good at holding conversations with other people if they weren’t deep or about topics Nico enjoyed (like classical literature and ancient philosophy and mythology).  
  
But he thought that he was at least human just like everyone else. Then he found out that the myths he’d loved learning about (at least the Greek ones) were real, and then he found out that he was a son of a god or goddess. Which he thought was cool at first. But now he could tell his sister was on her way to Elysium, and he could create huge fissures to swallow skeletons in a wall of fire. What the hell was that all about?  
  
His sister had died, and his family was dead, and he could barely remember them anyways. He didn’t know where he was, and wouldn’t be able to find his way back to camp, and he didn’t know if he would make it out of the tunnel alive. Percy had lied, and he hadn’t eaten since the day before, and he hadn’t slept well since they’d lived in D.C., and he was sick of everything. Was there a way that he could go back, and fix everything? If he could get Bianca back, maybe he could be a better brother.  
  
But there was no way to bring someone back from the dead. Once you died, you stayed dead unless you chose rebirth. That’s how it worked in the Greek myths.  
  
“What are you doing here?” a voice said sharply to Nico’s left. Nico jumped and looked up. There was a woman with long black hair and green eyes glaring at him, her floral dress swaying in the tunnel despite the lack of airflow. Nico was worried she was some kind of monster— something about her set Nico’s hair on end.  
  
“I—I’m sorry—“ Nico hastily wiped the tears off of his face, and backed up away from the woman. “I— I should get going.”  
  
“Halt!” the woman ordered, and Nico found himself unable to move. For some reason, the stone of the floor had melded to his feet. What the hell was going on?  
  
“Who are you?” Nico asked, his voice trembling in fear. “What did you do? Why can’t I move my feet?”  
  
“You are supposed to be dead,” the woman said coldly. “My husband said you had died.”  
  
“Who are you? Who’s your husband?” Nico asked. “Why should I be dead?”  
  
“I am Lady Persephone,” the woman said harshly. “You should come with me.”  
  
“But—“  
  
“No. You will come with me. My husband has some explaining to do,” Persephone said, grabbing Nico’s arm. The world faded away, and when it came back, he was in a throne room. A man with black hair and a beard sat on the throne, the faces of people twisting and contorting on his robes making him seem even more menacing. But something about him was familiar, like a dream Nico could reach but not quite hold.  
  
“What is he doing wandering around the Land of the Living?” Persephone demanded. “My darling raven, you told us all that he and his sister were dead!”  
  
‘Husband?’ Nico wondered. ‘Is this— this is Lord Hades.’  
  
“My dove,” the god said, stepping forward to grasp his wife’s hands. It was sweet, but Nico was disgusted with it for some reason. It felt like watching his sister flirt with the boys from the Lotus Hotel— sickening. “I am sorry. I should have told you. I put the two of them in the Lotus Hotel, the one in Las Vegas. It was my only chance to have one of my children for the prophecy.”  
  
“Well, you should have told me—“  
  
“Could someone please explain what is going on?” Nico asked, getting very annoyed with people talking about him, saying things that he had no idea about, and then moving on and not telling him anything. Mr. D and Hestia has talked about him in front of him a lot, as though they’d met before he came to camp, even though they hadn’t. Now Persephone and Hades were doing the same thing. What was going on?  
  
“You might want to sit down,” Hades said, looking awkward and uncomfortable. “This is a long story.”  
  
Nico sat on the floor, wondering what the hell was going to happen. Was this where Nico would finally get the answers he’d been looking for? Was this going to be the end of all his wondering and questions?  
  
“Niccolò,” Hades said. “I am your father.”  
  
“You like Star Wars too, I’m guessing?” Nico said, raising one eyebrow. Why else would Hades introduce him with that specific wording? Nico was thinking about referring to Hades as ‘Darth Vader’ from now on. After all, ‘Darth Vader’ means ‘Dark Father’, so it seemed pretty fitting for Hades.  
  
Hades shifted slightly, his eyes flicking up to his wife who smiled at him with an eye roll. “Yes. I watched all the movies a year or two ago. I quite enjoyed the Empire Strikes Back.”  
  
“I liked Phantom Menace,” Nico said before remembering what he needed answered about. It wasn’t the time to geek out with his newly found father about a franchise with six movies and a bunch of TV shows. “Now why should I be dead? And why can’t I remember anything?”  
  
“Well,” Hades said, glancing back at his wife uncomfortably. “It’s a long story.”  
  
“I’ve got time,” Nico said. He was going to get some answers. He couldn’t remember anything; he had images of dead people swimming through his head, asking him to join them; his sister had just died; he had been kidnapped by his principle who then turned into a manticore and tried to kill him and his sister; he was kidnapped by his stepmother, the Goddess of Springtime, in a tunnel; he was reunited with his estranged father (who turned out to be the Lord of the Dead); people kept saying he should be dead, and not explaining themselves whatsoever; and there was Percy, with his beautiful eyes and broken promises. Nico was sick of everything. He was getting some answers.  
  
“Alright,” Hades said before clearing his throat. “You and your sister were put into a hotel in Las Vegas, where time stands still so that Zeus wouldn’t be able to find you. That was sixty-six years ago. You have not aged, and weren’t even aware of the passing time. I put you there to save you, until it was safe for you to come out, which was a few months ago.”  
  
“What?!” Nico screeched. That couldn’t be right. He wasn’t seventy-seven years old. He was eleven.  
  
“Yeah,” Persephone said irritably. “My thoughts exactly.”  
  
“I am sorry, my dove.” Hades looked down at his hands, as if he truly regretted the fact that Nico was born. What an amazing father. He should win the award for ‘best father on earth’. “It was in a fit of rage, and I apologize for putting more tension on our marriage.”  
  
“But why would Zeus want us dead?” Nico asked, interrupting the domestics. “And why would you put us in there to begin with? What was so special about me and Bianca? What happened to our mother? Who was the lawyer that brought us out of the hotel? Where was the money from? Whose bank account was it? How does the whole ‘outside of time’ thing work? Why can’t I remember anything?”  
  
Persephone scowled and glared at Nico. “Dear lord, you are just like your mother. Always asking questions, always bothering me.”  
  
“My dear—“ Hades started, but before he could finish whatever he was going to say, the goddess turned to Nico and snapped her fingers, causing the world to go dark.  
  
Nico could hear Hades and Persephone arguing, but he couldn’t see anything. Nico tried to move, or speak, but he couldn’t. He was stuck still, and didn’t know where he was or what was happening. He was having trouble breathing. What was going on?  
  
“— turn him back! We’ll send him out, we will do whatever you like, my darling, but he is my son! Turn him back!” It warmed Nico’s heart that Hades knew he was his son, not daughter, and that Hades didn’t hesitate to call him that. However, since he had no idea what was going on, he was panicking and not paying that much attention. What did Persephone do? What was happening?  
  
Nico had a few weird visions while he heard his father arguing with his wife. One was of his hair blowing away in the wind, and the second was of getting plucked up out of the ground like a flower, and third came the lion from The Wizard of Oz singing ‘I’m just a dandy-lion’. The weirdest one was of a giant five-year-old popping his head off with their thumb, singing ‘mamma had a baby and his head popped off’, which was scarier than all of his nightmares of his sister dying. What was happening? What was going on? What was with the weird dreams?  
  
He heard Persephone huff, but his vision came back. Nico jumped and looked around, no idea what just happened. There were little yellow petals on his clothes that Nico brushed off. “What just happened?!”  
  
“Your stepmother, um, she turned you into a dandelion,” Hades explained.  
  
“What?!”  
  
“Yes, yes, you were bothering me,” Persephone said. “Now, get out of my home, you’ve disturbed me enough for today.”  
  
“But—“  
  
“No. Get. out. now,” the Queen of Hell said with a terrifying look on her face.  
  
“I am sorry, Nico,” Hades said, actually looking regretful in agreeing with his wife. “But Persephone is correct. You should leave. I will have a guard escort you out.”  
  
“What?” Nico asked as a skeleton grabbed his arm and started dragging him away. “I don’t have anywhere to go! I don’t even know where we are! Please, don’t make me go!”  
  
Hades sighed and shook his head sadly as his wife grinned triumphantly. The skeleton kept pulling him along as Nico yelled at his father. Nico was well aware of the tears that had started streaming down his face again. What the hell was happening?  
  
As Nico got pulled out, he had a memory flash through his mind. An old man with black eyes—his nonno— sat with Nico on a fancy couch, smiling at him as he said ‘non succede mai niente di buono il lunedì’. ‘Nothing good ever happens on a Monday. Nico was starting to think his nonno was right. Monday’s were horrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I love Persephone and Hades in this chapter. I get that Persephone is a bit awful and is turning Nico into a plant and all, but it’s semi-cute with the whole ‘my dove’ thing (which I stole from tlo). The two of them definitely went to couples therapy after the whole Maria and Marie things  
> Also, Hades and Nico being nerdy about Star Wars! I love it!  
> Also, POOR NICO! They didn’t tell him until the people from the quest got back! It was fucked up! That entire scene was fucked, to be honest, but that’s a story for another day  
> Nico needs a nap, and it’s only three chapters in, so poor guy. Get this kid some therapy, man


	4. Meeting Minos

As Nico walked away from the palace, he felt someone (or something) watching him. All the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and there was a cool presence behind him. He turned around, but didn’t see anyone.  
  
When he faced back forward, he saw a man standing in front of him. At least, Nico thought he was a man. He was bluish and translucent, with two rock-like things growing out of his head. His eyes looked like an Ancient Greek or Roman statue— no irises or pupils, just plain and terrifying. A boa constrictor sat across his shoulders, flicking its tongue out of its mouth every few seconds. The man’s toga was pristine and neat, almost supernaturally so— it didn’t even have a single wrinkle or fold. Nico could almost see through the guy— if it wasn’t so dark, he could’ve.  
  
Nico wished that Will and the Stoll’s were there. He didn’t want to be in the Underworld. He didn’t want to see that man. He was scared, he was alone, he was still grieving, he was tired, he was angry. With himself, with Bianca, with Percy, with Hades, Persephone, Chiron, and Mr. D.  
  
Nico backed up away from the guy, and tripped over his feet, falling to the ground. The man grinned. “I am King Minos. I am one of the judges of souls. You are a son of Lord Hades, yes?”  
  
Nico didn’t say anything. He couldn’t find his voice. He couldn’t find the words.  
  
“I just judged your sister, Bianca. She is in Elysium, and she will remember her life, and be happy with it. With my guidance, you will go far, and you can bring her back. Would you like that?”  
  
“What—what’s in it for you?” Nico managed to say. He remembered Minos’ story. He sent people to their deaths with his stepson, the Minotaur (who was a curse for Minos not giving Poseidon his most valuable bull). He pursued Daedalus when he ran, and then was boiled alive by princesses. If Nico remembered correctly, Minos was also a rapist or predator (which was a pretty safe bet with most male historical and mythological figures).  
  
“I get out of the Underworld, and I get the pleasure of working for you,” Minos answered with a predatory grin. The ghost reminded Nico of a wolf in the middle of a hunt— vicious, calculating, untrustworthy.  
  
Nico vaguely remembered walking down the streets of Venice, wandering at all times of the day. He would walk up one road, across another, past the Piazza San Marco, and past the museums and across the bridges. He remembered walking to the edge of the city, and then heading back to his home.  
  
He walked around the grounds at Westover Hall, and around the town in Tennessee. He walked around Camp Half-Blood, and into the woods, and past Thalia’s Tree. He walked around most nights, usually when he couldn’t get his brain to turn off. He walked until he was lost, until he forgot what was bothering him, until his head shut up and he was only able to think of how tired he was.  
  
He had a vague memory of his mamma telling him that ‘un giorno andrai a camminare con il diavolo e non tornerai’. ‘One day, you will go walking with the devil and you will not return.’  
As Nico looked into King Minos’s cold dark eyes, he knew that day had come.  
  
“So, I guide you and help you find a soul to exchange for your sister, and in return, I get out of the underworld. We have a deal?”  
  
Suddenly, another memory hit him. His nonno used to answer his mamma with the same phrase when she said that he would get taken by the devil. ‘God loves us, Maria, but the devil takes an interest. I do not blame your child for joining him.’ God, or kindness and purity as Nico had come to know Him as, did love him. But it was cold and harsh, whereas the devil’s interest was warm and kind.  
  
And that’s why Nico took his hand. That is why he followed Minos. That is why Nico kept him around and listened to him, and why he let Minos near him. Minos was the devil, but at least he was there, which was more than could be said for the rest of the world. He didn’t have anyone else asking to be by his side, offering to be there.  
  
He wanted to go back to Camp Half-Blood, but he didn’t want to see the pitying looks from the other kids. He couldn’t go back to feeling invisible, like he had before he left Westover Hall. And by then, they probably all knew that he was a son of Hades. He had seen how the Hecate and Hypnos kids and that psychopomp son of Hermes were treated. He didn’t want that for himself. At that point, Will and the Stoll’s were probably scared of him, and wouldn’t want anything to do with him.  
  
So, yes, Nico knew from the beginning that Minos was a liar, a scoundrel, someone he shouldn’t trust, someone he should run from. He knew from the second he saw his cruel grin. He knew before he met him that nothing good would come from talking to him.  
  
But he at least feigned interest, right? He was there, and he wanted to be there. Yes, he was the devil, but the devil takes an interest. And at the end of the day, isn’t that better than someone who loves you but is absent and uncaring?  
  
“We can get Bianca back?” Nico asked as the ghost pulled him up. If he brought her back, he could reset his life, he wouldn’t have killed his sister, and she’d have her life back.  
  
“Absolutely,” Minos replied. “All we need is to find a soul to exchange for hers.”  
  
Nico’s next sentence might seem a little morbid or extreme to some people, but it was only logical to the young boy. Keep in mind he was only eleven, and dealing with enough stuff that most adults wouldn’t have been able to handle. So, Nico spoke up. “I offer my soul. How do we trade it?”  
  
He believed his sister, who everyone loved and got along with, who understood other people, who was better than Nico six ways to Sunday, should be allowed to live. If Nico gave up his soul, she would be back and happy. No one would have to feel upset or guilty or anything over her death, because she’d be back.  
  
And if Nico was gone, well, who would really miss him? He was annoying; he talked too much, and wasn’t great at seeing social cues to stop talking or change the subject. He was naïve and gullible, and he took everything at face value, even when he knew it was a bad idea (such as with trusting the clearly evil and demented ghost of a dead tyrannical king).  
  
And asking the bigger question, would anyone ever know? He was a Halfblood outside of camp, with no home, no food, no money, and no weapons. He hadn’t even been trained to fight well enough to do anything if he got attacked. It wouldn’t have been a far stretch for him to have died. And if Bianca showed back up at camp, Percy was the only one who knew that he felt her in the Underworld. He may not have put two and two together yet.  
  
“Sir,” the ghost said as though Nico were a particularly fluffy bunny. “Lord Hades Will want a soul that is owed to him.”  
  
“I’m supposed to be dead,” Nico said. That’s what people had been telling him for a few weeks, wasn’t it? That he wasn’t supposed to be around anymore? “My soul is owed to him.”  
  
“You are his son,” Minos clarified. “He will not take your soul in exchange for your sisters. It needs to be a soul he will not collect in the future.”  
  
Nico sighed. “Where am I gonna get a soul like that?”  
  
Minos’ eyes got a scary glint to them (not that they weren't already terrifying). “Daedalus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the rock things out of Minos' head are based off this statue I saw when looking up pictures of him  
> I don't have a whole lot to say here, but go check out Will's PoV if you haven't yet

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this chapter! Please check out Will’s PoV too, if you haven’t done so already (I’ve got eight or nine chapters up on that? Can’t remember if I posted the ninth yet or not, lol)  
> All you missed if you skipped the TW section was Nico talking about his old friend Alan (who he definitely had a crush on), and then he mentions their foster parents kicking Nico and Bianca out before they went to the military school  
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


End file.
